Electronic-point-of-sale systems specialist EPOS Group and business solution provider RedBlack Software have entered into a formal technology partnership agreement.

The agreement means that the software development teams at both companies will work together to further integrate EPOS Group's Quantum till management system with RedBlack Software's CyBake Touch bakery shop control solution.

The decision to strengthen the ties between the two firms' applications, which run side-by-side on EPOS-type computerized touch screen tills, comes after a number of successful dual-implementations. CyBake and Quantum have been rolled out together across the retail estates of independent bakers such as Percy Ingle Bakeries in London and Essex, Oliver Adams in the East Midlands, S. M. Bayne in Fife, Scotland, Thomas the Baker in North Yorkshire and Teesside, and Truffles Bakery in Sussex.

EPOS Group also supplied state-of-the-art till hardware to these customers, mostly from leading British manufacturer J2 Systems, as well as high-speed PIN-pads.

The Quantum/CyBake Touch combination is easy to use and proven to reduce waste and shrinkage. Put in simple terms, Quantum EPOS software controls retail bakers' cash while CyBake Touch controls their production. By using them together, bakers can, for example, achieve much more accurate sales-based ordering rather than relying on rough estimates from shop managers.

The aim of the bakery technology partnership is to boost customers' shop profits by delivering end-to-end stock traceability combined with precision reporting, reconciliation and analysis. With the two solutions running together on their tills, retail staff are given a single point of data-entry, telephone ordering is minimized and administration is reduced in both shops and head office.

Jane Tyler, managing director of York-based RedBlack Software, says: "We believe our technology partnership is unique in the bakery industry. Our dual approach means that bakers cut the waste in their shops dramatically and gives independent operators the reporting and analysis they need to compete with the corporates. We have further joint projects in the pipeline, so closer technical integration between our respective offerings makes good sense for our customers."

Stephen Boyes, managing director of EPOS Group, which has its headquarters in Ramsgate, Kent, says: "The ability to allow customers to pay by card combined with vastly improved reconciliation means we have already installed the most EPOS-to-management till interfaces in bakery shops in the UK. No other systems can deliver the same data in the same time-frame and we are determined to keep on improving on these proven results for our bakery clients."

The two companies are also teaming-up on marketing and consultancy. For example, they were a joint sponsor of British Baker magazine's BB75 retail bakery league table and lunch in February. In terms of consultancy, customers will now benefit from a holistic approach to bakery shop system integration which will enable them to get the most of computerized EPOS till technology.

— www.prweb.com